Excellent news on the public health front

September 30, 2006|Gayle Dantzler

The state of Michigan is a big step closer to being the first to include the HPV vaccine on the list of inoculations required for school attendance. The state Senate passed bills in September that require girls to be immunized before beginning the sixth grade.

HPV is the virus that infects more than 50 percent of sexually active women. In most, it goes unnoticed. But in some, it causes cervical cancer - a disease that kills about 4,000 women a year in the United States.

The HPV vaccine is 100 percent effective in preventing the two strains of HPV that, together, cause 70 percent of cervical cancer. The three-injection series works best if given to girls before they become sexually active. The vaccine could dramatically reduce the incidence of the second-most common cancer in women.

Â?CouldÂ? being the operative word.

ItÂ?s hard for me to imagine how anyone could find fault with a major breakthrough to protect people from cancer. But there have been grumbles from a few pro-family groups, and there are likely to be more. Some claim the fact that HPV is sexually transmitted means that actively preventing it is tantamount to saying early sex is OK.

The Family Research Council in particular thinks making the shots an enrollment requirement is coercion. Michigan lets parents opt out of all vaccines on religious, philosophical or medical grounds. That policy would apply to HPV, too. But the FRC thinks parents should have to opt in, not out.

The fact is, if vaccines were a positive option rather than a negative option, far fewer children would be protected from disease. That applies to HPV, too.

Is this a morality issue? Personally, I think itÂ?s immoral to not do everything possible to protect children. But more than anything, this is a health issue. And a life-and-death issue.

Most people, including most Michigan state senators, obviously get that fact. Now letÂ?s see the House follow the SenateÂ?s lead and get the bill to Gov. Jennifer GranholmÂ?s desk quickly. Come next fall, Michigan could be leading the way in eradicating a killer disease